Everything posted by JBR LIFE Photography

Actually, @Av8Chuck, I had a tricky time leading through this property to make it flow. The layout of the house is such that it's not really the easiest to create a walk-through. In fact, I found myself actually walking all over the place, discovering more rooms here and there. lol
Thanks for the compliments and the feedback, that's one of the main reasons I post this stuff here -to grow and learn.
Have you booked your flight here yet for 2019??

Just wrapped this one tonight, thought I'd share. I usually keep the videos under the 3min mark, but the client wanted a longer video, and this home lent well to it. So much goodness packed into 3500+ sq.ft., it would be tough to keep it under 3min anyhow!
For this project, I used a good bit of lighting on the interior view shots, as the dark wood trim just ate up all the available natural light. The home is beautiful, but definitely kinda dark by design. Color grading was quite an undertaking as well, trying to squeeze all the available data for everything I could.
This one is best viewed in 4k on a large screen with premium sound. Enjoy!

I did NOT get to drink that coffee, can you believe it?! They just grabbed the cup, tossed it into the sink like it was yesterday's trash! #richpeopleproblems
Yes, I recall that article about Mr. Lik. He's not necessarily loved amongst most photography circles, although I'm guessing there's a bit of hater-ade some folks tend to drink out of jealousy now and again. But to each his own, I suppose. I've met folks who don't think our complimentary beach photo sessions are a great way to do biz, but it works for us.
Thanks for all the support and feedback about the videos. I keep trying to get better with each one, and sometimes I'm my own worst critic, as I can see room for improvement in everything I produce. So, an 'attaboy' goes a long way!

Sorry, I realized I had the exposure too high on this, re-worked it. Here's the correct version I meant to send you. Catalog should match this one now.
This also means there wasn't as much data loss in the highlights as I had thought initially.

Aloha friends!
Today I'm sharing an image shot for a recent work project. On this island, we have only 2 seasons - summer and winter. Winter cloud cover tends to bring some of the most dramatic sunsets, with fire in the sky, almost every single evening. In the distant left of the frame, you can see the island of Kaho'olawe (Kah-ho-oh-la-vay), with Molokini (Moh-loh-kee-nee) crater in front of it (looks like a little tiny island). In the distant right of the frame, you can see the edge of the island of Lanai'i (Luh-nah-ee), an island that is currently privately owned in it's entirety by Larry Ellison, of Oracle.
7 shots, 1 HDR merge, all manually exposed. Enjoy and Mahalo for viewing!

Mahalo, Alan! I had a run through the image, and here are a few notes:
In the future, if you'll pull the drone back another 300ft or so, there will be room to straighten the lines of the buildings, without losing the desired scene. I tried straightening this image, but it suffered a loss of sky or the pier, have to choose. Instead of sacrificing the scene, I omitted the process altogether.
Found some critical data loss in the sky highlights, toward the center of the frame. I recommend shooting at least -1/3 EV, sometimes even -2/3, and on rare occasions, a full stop below. The Hasselblad seemed to do well recovering shadow tones, so I wouldn't fear exposing for the highlights a little more conservatively.
The key to an image like this, as you'll find in the catalog, is brush tool, brush tool, brush tool.
Over the years, I've created a few import presets that really help me get close. It reduces the editing time a LOT, because they're custom built to fit the settings I use. It makes shooting for your edit process a ton easier.
Enjoy!
Lightroom Catalog --------> https://www.dropbox.com/sh/a7iwnifhjsochj7/AABK8dUSp3Wy1Iflc5FZL7MBa?dl=0
Edited image: https://www.dropbox.com/s/66osevynonhns92/DJI_0074_original.jpg?dl=0

Aloha Alan,
This is a beautiful image, for sure! I have a few feedback notes, regarding a bit of color work. I could type them up here, or if you'll send me the RAW file, I'll make the adjustment in LR and send you the catalog, so you can see exactly what I did?
Great shot, regardless, thanks for sharing!
Warmest Mahalo,
Jonathon

Aloha gang!
I'm proud to present a few images from yesterday morning's drone flight. Through LAANC, I was able to get a special authorization from FAA & the control tower manager to fly this location for a beachfront home (not pictured). While the mission was a beach home, I couldn't resist grabbing a couple shots of the airport itself. What I was most impressed with was how smoothly the approval process went.
From request filed through LAANC (AirMap) to authorization was less than 2 weeks. I had to submit a custom unlock request to DJI, which was approved within hours, and loaded to the aircraft days before the mission. A quick call to the tower the morning of the flight, and the manager was already prepared, as he authorized the mission. We recapped the mission details (altitude, duration, radius of operation), and ended with 'Call me when you're done so I'll know, until then I'll keep the traffic off your spot as best I can.'
This is the second '0 zone' I've been able to get approved for flight. The first was further away from the airport, but not by much. Seems like if you have a solid plan and a reasonable tower manager, there's a good chance you'll be approved.
Details about the flight itself:
Mavic 2 Zoom equipped with 3mi vis anti-collision lighting (top white, port, starboard), 300ft operating radius, 75ft AGL max altitude. Operation time was 8am-9am.
Enjoy & Mahalo for viewing!

Aloha peeps!
We often talk about including interior and ground level photography with our exterior drone work, as a way to round out our real estate media biz models. Today, I thought I'd share a few examples of what I produce for my clients.
This home is going to be listed for somewhere around the $3M mark, and for good reason. The area where it's located is sparsely populated, and by sparsely, I mean like barely anyone or anything around, other than cows, goats & sheep. There's a small winery, general store, and post office nearby and that's it. Privacy on an island is quite valuable, as anyone could imagine.
Shooting interiors to showcase a view is all about realism. Whether you use lighting or HDR techniques, the main thing is to make it feel as real as you can, so the viewer gets the sense of actually being there. Personally, I prefer to use lighting, but occasionally there just aren't enough lights in the world, so an HDR shot is in order. Even then, I'll incorporate lighting to help with the realism part.
The interior shots in this post were done using a combination of radio triggered speed lights, sometimes with a shoot-thru umbrella. I used a Sony A7R III + 16-35mm G Master glass. Each frame is a single exposure, worked in Lightroom, no HDR work here.
Mahalo for viewing, and enjoy!

Thought I'd share this one, kinda unique in it's own way. This condo comes fully furnished, including the two Peter Lik prints on the wall. It was fun to give this more of a 'feel the vibe' approach, rather than 'here's the living room, here's the kitchen'. Enjoy!

Aerial media can do many great things for a property showcase. Aside from seeing the condition of the rooftop and the surrounding area (which can be both great and not great), an aerial shot can give a perspective otherwise unavailable to the average photographer standing on the ground.
For example, last night I had a shoot where the bottom of the home is mostly garage, and the second floor is all the goodies. From the ground, the house looks pretty good, but you still cannot see much detail from the outside looking in, especially at dusk (when we do the dreamy lights on, dark blue night sky combo). So, the answer was to park the drone about 12ft high to balance the perspective and give a peek into a beautifully lit up home at dusk.
In terms of video, it's also important to use low angle methods with your drone, because you can cover a lot more distance in one take than running through the yard and around the pool with a gimbal cam. Essentially, you can create CGI style panning & orbiting effects, but with real life video footage.
Solar panels on the roof are another reason for aerial media capture. Sure, you could climb a ladder or rent a bucket truck, but one is less safe, the other much more costly. Drones fix that problem in short order.
I've even flown drones up large elaborate stairwells to move the video sequence from one floor to another. (DISCLAIMER: Make sure you have more than enough general liability insurance, in case your drone goes whack and you take out a $100,000 chandelier).
Personally, I don't really consider the drone anything more than another tool in the box to get a job done. Aerial shots help to create a more robust media package overall, and that's what I market, rather than specifically marketing drone services.

This is very interesting, and a great way to motivate payment. I too can attest to the reality of the problem, as I've had to make a strict rule of no pay, no media delivery. It definitely lights a fire under the realtors, as they need their listings active ASAP (here they get fined $100/day if not listed within 2 days of signing the agreement). An automated system to handle this would save hours of process.
Looking forward to seeing how this rolls out!

Actually, yes, I've been looking at this. Honestly, I gotta figure it out in FCPX. I know PP has a very easy tool for this, but I just don't use that platform much. Thanks for the suggestion, I'll see about it for the next one!

That's a pretty cool setup! I love the flexible pad into which the lights are embedded. Makes for a super versatile light.
Don't knock the work lights too much. I've thought about grabbing a pair of them for super large spaces that just need a TON of light (dark wood interior, high ceiling, bright view outside).

I'm using a pair of Dracast Bi-Color LED1000 Pro lights. They allow for color adjustment (5600-3200K) as well as brightness control and put out a LOT of light. I also have a pair of small Neewer CN-304 LED lights to fill in the smaller spaces and dark spots. While the Neewer lights only give brightness adjustment, I have a set of gels to somewhat control the color temp on them.
How I used the lights is kind all over the place. It's a game of moving lights for every shot sequence, so as to hide their reflections in windows, hotspots on ceilings, floors and furniture, and still get an even spread of light in the space. For the wide shot of the living room that also show a part of the kitchen, I used 2 Dracast lights just behind the couch, angled toward the corners of the room a bit, along with a CN-304 in the far right-corner to light up the dark spot, and then another CN-304 in the dining room, hiding behind the fireplace, lighting up the kitchen a little more.
If you get the lighting right, you can work some real magic in post to bring out the data that was captured. I'll see if I have any pull-back pics of the setup. If not, I'll be sure to get some pull-backs of the next shoot involving dynamic lighting.
Here's a link to the Dracast set I use right now: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LS6WFJO/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&amp;psc=1
Another note - I did NOT use the lights in every scene, only the ones where a beautiful broad ocean view was needed from inside a dark room. The rest of the place shot without lights just fine, but a lot of that is because the camera has 15 stops of dynamic range.

Knocked out another luxury property, located in a magical place - Ulupalakua - where the cattle & sheep roam, the weather is mild all year long, and the views are spectacular.
Side note: Loving the Dracast 1000 LED 2in1 lights. They really help bring in the view!

Very well done @Talon Six Aerial! That camera height is so much more balanced, looks great. Despite being an empty house, I think you showed the place quite well. Empty homes are sometimes super tough, great job!